News Archives

@IOForienteering

The Portugal O ‘Meeting 2013 has begun. On the first day, Thierry Gueorgiou and Simone Niggli showed why they are the big favorites also this year.

Sun, blue sky and a warm temperature waited 1600 athletes in Idanha-a-Nova for the first day of the Portugal O ‘Meeting 2013. Organised by ADFA, the event had to offer in this first day a Long Distance race, in the magnificent terrains west of the town Idanha-a-Nova, offering considerable technical challenges and with a strong appeal to the physical abilities of the athletes.

Thierry Gueorgiou continued his tradition to win the first day, P and grabbed the victory with the time of 1:03:11. Thierry ran a clean race and finished 2:48 seconds ahead of Olle Boström, Sweden. With a time of 1:06:44, Albin Ridefelt reached the third position. Running to the second position, Olav Lundanes unfortunately had to give up at the third last control where he got injured.

«I’ll see if I can run every day or not»

In the women’s class, Simone Niggli, the leader of the world rankings, made an exceptional race, finishing with a time of 1:00:07. Céline Dodin and Dana Brozkova were 4:08 and 4:51 behind her. Simone Niggli said: “I am very happy to be here. I hadn’t the best winter, I had some injury in my leg and I’m still not able to train as much as I want. I don’t know how the things will be here but I believe that, with this sun and warm temperature, the things will go better. I’ll see if I can run every day or not.” About today: “I just enjoyed every control. It was very interesting. Yesterday, in the Model Event, I could see that the terrain was quite tricky, with the greens and the open areas. It’s hard to distinguish the difference between some of them. But I made a good run, I just made one mistake at the 17th control. Otherwise, it was a really good concept and I’m happy with this.”

Tiago Aires was the best Portuguese in the men’s class in the 36th position with a time of 1:15:35, six seconds faster than the current leader of the world ranking, the Swiss Matthias Kyburz. In the women’s class Mariana Moreira was the best Portuguese, finishing with 1:25:42 andon the 47th place. It should also be noted that the South American Champion, Mirian Pasturiza, Brazil, finished just 2 seconds behind Mariana Moreira.